


appetence

by whatisitkirschtein



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Comfort/Angst, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2015-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-10 06:40:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3280478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatisitkirschtein/pseuds/whatisitkirschtein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kagami was in a terrible accident, losing the ability to use his legs, and the ability to see past the pain.</p><p>Kuroko is the physical therapist who is there to change that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	appetence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [butjairoko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/butjairoko/gifts).



> i'm supposed to be doing homework
> 
> for my lovely [sister](http://but-jaikuro.tumblr.com/) who shares an extreme thirst for kagakuro

_“Have you heard about what’s happened to that young man in room 118?”_

_“Oh yes! He was well on his way to becoming a wonderful basketball star when he was in a terrible accident.”_

_“Such a pity. I’ve seen him play, they’re losing a great athlete.”_

_“Poor boy must be in such pain right now.”_

 

Kagami’s hands clenched into fists, crumpling up the sheets in between them.

That’s all he’d been hearing lately; people gossiping about the poor young basketball prodigy whose career had been cut short due to a car accident.

 People gossiping about _him_.

He couldn’t even turn on the T.V without some sports or news channel talking about him, and the nurses in the hallways weren’t as subtle as they thought they were in their daily babblings about the patients.

Of course it was fucking painful. He hurt everywhere, his legs were either numb or in excruciating pain, and the dreams that he’s had since he was a kid had been crushed in a mere moment because of some idiot who decided it was all right to drink himself stupid and then drive himself home, in the middle of a thunderstorm, no less.

So yeah, he was in pain, both physically and emotionally.

It didn’t help when people came over for visits either. His friends, old and current teammates, and family coming over, plastering on fake smiles and telling him _it’d be okay,_ acting as if it was and as though he couldn’t see their pity, acting as if his whole life wasn’t over. It was disgusting. It was heartbreaking.

Yet he knew they were doing it for his sake. Knew that they thought that if they seemed strong for him, he would feed off their strength and get back on his feet.

But they were wrong. So wrong.

Kagami couldn’t remember a time in his life where he was so weak. Couldn’t remember a time when he felt so much anger, sadness, and confusion. Couldn’t remember a time where he was in so much pain, yet he wasn’t able to shed a single tear. Any other time he was hurt he was bouncing around, antsy and anxious to leave the hospital and get back to his life. But not this time. This time he was stuck in an unfamiliar bed, his gaze blank and empty, no energy to want to go anywhere, no motivation, no emotion, _no anything_.

Everyone could see how different he was, how drained, even himself. And they all tried to help, tried to cheer him up by bringing his favourite food, movies, and games. But there was no point. He was merely a shell of himself now, incomplete without basketball. There was no point in trying to fix something that would remain broken.

-

If Kagami had to choose a favourite nurse, it would have to be Takao Kazunari. He is a lively man, always talking and moving about. He is Kagami’s favourite because he never pries, never asks, and never ever pities him. Takao talks to him as if Kagami would talk back, and would eagerly resume the conversation himself when he didn’t. Takao is informal and improper and a bit ditzy, but he is also observant and careful, and was able to get a tiny smile out of Kagami when no one else could.

So when Takao brought up the prospect of physical therapy, Kagami felt just a bit betrayed.

“So, Kagami,” he begins, after finishing a story about his little sister kicking his loose tooth right out of his mouth when they were kids. “Have you started thinking about what you’re gonna do next?”

This causes Kagami to look up at the shorter male, who’s occupying himself with fixing the curtains, opening them a bit to get some sunshine in, making Kagami squint. “Next?” He croaks, his voice raspy from lack of use.

“Yeah, next, like after you stop sulking and get your shit together,” he says, his voice somehow sounding playful yet serious. Kagami remains silent. He didn’t know if he was even going to get his shit together, and even if he somehow managed to, thinking about his future _hurt_ because he knew that basketball wasn’t going to be a part of it and what the hell was a future without basketball.

“You should start physical therapy,” Takao offers lightly after a few moments of silence. “It won’t get you back into the same exact physicality you were in before, but it’ll help you get back on your feet at least. And that’s better than rolling around in a wheelchair for the rest of your life, right? More opportunities.”

Kagami had to snort at that. Takao was beginning to sound like the psychiatrist that he had been forced to talk to.

But despite this, Kagami still liked Takao, and he didn’t want this topic to be brought up again, so he just shrugged and mumbled a “Yeah, sure.”

Takao gave him a smile that told him he didn’t quite believe his words, but let it go. He looked at his watch and whispered a curse, looking around the room one last time to make sure everything was in order.

“I gotta run for now, so I’ll see you later. But Kagami,” he says as he stands by the door, holding onto the doorframe. “Promise me you’ll at least think about it.”

 Kagami nods,and he can almost force himself to believe it.

-

When Aomine barges in his room like he owns the fucking place, Kagami doesn’t even flinch.

The basketball player plops down into the seat beside his bed at the same time he drops a bag of McDonalds onto his lap.

When Kagami doesn’t reach for the bag, Aomine gets all up in his face. “I’m not leaving here until you eat every fucking crumb out of this bag. I mean it. You’re starting to look like Satsuki’s pathetic excuse for a dog.” Kagami still doesn’t touch the bag, doesn’t even twitch at the mention of a dog and Aomine’s face softens. “You won’t get better by not eating.”

At that Kagami lets out a big sigh and reaches into the bag, pulling out a Big Mac, unwrapping it and taking a dramatic bite. The burger tastes like plastic and feels like rubber as he chews, but he swallows it down anyway.

Upon seeing this Aomine grins widely, grabbing the T.V remote from the bedside table and flicking it on, immediately turning it to the sports channel. And whadyya know, a basketball game of all things is playing.

Aomine doesn’t change the channel.

“Aomine,” Kagami mumbles, trying to ignore the lump in his throat and the twist in his belly. Aomine makes no indication that he had heard him so he raises his voice. “Aomine. I don’t want to watch this.”

The younger male switches his gaze from the T.V to him for just a second before switching back. “Well, I do. So suck it up.”

Kagami can’t take it. His head is spinning, his mouth is dry and he can’t breathe. A dry sob escapes him against his will. “Aomine, _please._ ” And with that, the T.V is off.

“Look at you,” Aomine says, his voice oddly soft. “The Kagami I know isn’t like this.”

“Well the Kagami you know was able to walk, and play basketball, and could take care of his fucking self!” The red-head snaps, raising his voice.

“And whose fault is that?” Aomine raises his voice as well.

“You know damn well whose it is!”

“Yes, I do, just as well as you! So I- _we_ \- both know that this isn’t your fault, so you need to stop moping around and acting like it is!” The two remain silent after this, huffing slightly and unable to look each other in the eye. When a nurse passing by pokes her head in and asks if they are okay, Kagami is only able to nod dumbly.

“You’re stronger than this Kagami,” Aomine begins, his voice low and stern. “I won’t say I understand what you’re going through because I don’t, and honestly, I pray that I never will. But I know what it’s like to hit a wall. To hit a wall and feel like there’s nothing you can do to get around it. But maybe that’s because there’s not. There’s no way to go around it, or under it, or over it, or through it. All you can do is go a different direction, take a different path, and see where it takes you. You may always wonder what was on the other side of that wall, but it’ll be better than wondering what would’ve happened if you’d moved on instead of staying stuck, wondering _what if?_

“No, you’re not the same person you were before and that fucking sucks, but what you need to be doing is accepting that that’s what happened and you can’t change it, instead of sitting here and feeling sorry for yourself and wasting time. Every minute, every _second_ that you spend sitting here staring at the wall and letting yourself rot is a minute that you could’ve been using to make yourself stronger and forging a new path, showing everyone that what happens to you isn’t what defines you, but rather how you choose to move on from it. So stop fucking sitting here, eat some fucking food, and start some fucking physical therapy already.”

Aomine stands from his chair and walks out, leaving Kagami feeling vaguely empty and strangely grateful.

-

Kagami’s physical therapist is tall, stern-looking, and has a blue rubber duckie in his lab coat pocket.

His name is Midorima Shintarou and he is known for being one of the best in the business despite his relatively young age, yet Kagami couldn’t hate him more. He walks with an air that screams confidence, but it rubs Kagami the wrong way. His face looks snobbish and his speech patterns are odd. All of the nurses and doctors seem to love and idolize him, but Dr. Midorima doesn’t even seem to care or notice. To top it all off, his hair is fucking _green_ of all colours and wow Kagami hopes that his therapy will be over quickly.

Midorima- er, _Dr_. Midorima walks, in, not even sparing Kagami a glance as he flips through a large stack of files, eyes moving rapidly over the pages from behind his glasses. Kagami waits patiently for him to finish, knowing that whatever is on those papers must be important. But as minutes go by Kagami begins to get restless and frustrated. Just as he is about to speak up and demand why the doctor is ignoring him, a voice pipes up from beside the physical therapist.

“Here are the X-Rays you requested, Midorima-san,” the voice, soft but confident, says, and Kagami damn near has a heart attack. He doesn’t feel too embarrassed though, because in front of him, Dr. Midorima flinches, nearly dropping his stack of files.

“T-thank you Kuroko,” he stammers, looking flustered and just a bit annoyed. “You can put them up on the screen for me. And I thought I told you to stop appearing so suddenly like that.”

The man does as he’s told. “I’m sorry Midorima-san, but I can assure you that it was an accident,” he states, but looking at his face, Kagami is almost sure that he can see the smallest of smirks. He fakes a cough to cover up his laugh. “It won’t happen again.”

The green-haired man just huffs, finally putting his files down and looking at Kagami for the first time since entering the room. The doctor introduces himself as well as the man beside him, who he learns to be Kuroko Tetsuya, another physical therapist and Midorima’s long-time partner.

 “I was originally supposed to be the one helping you through your therapy,” Dr. Midorima tells him. “But some paperwork had gotten mixed up and I had been double booked. I didn’t want to ignore your case, but unlike me, Kuroko has no other patients during this time slot, so he will be the one helping you through this. Rest assured, he is a talented man and I’m confident he will be able to get back on your feet.”

Looking at Kuroko, Kagami raises an eyebrow. Surely he can’t be expected to work with him. Kagami can tell that he is small, and he almost seems to drown in the lab coat he wears; there’s no way he’s strong enough to help Kagami physically. He’s short, nearly two heads shorter than Dr. Midorima, and he’s sure the difference between Kuroko and himself would be substantial as well. He has light blue hair, and even lighter blue eyes that he feels can look right into his soul, and for some reason Kagami can’t imagine him as any kind of doctor even though he’s standing in front of him as one right now.  But despite his stature Kuroko stands tall, and it lets Kagami ease up a little, knowing that he is at least confident with his position, giving Kagami reason to be confident in him as well.

”Sure. As long as I’m able to move around without that damn wheelchair by the end of this.”

“I will do my best to fulfill your wishes Kagami-san,” Kuroko says with a perfect 90 degree bow, proving to Kagami that extremely formal and polite people _do_ still exist.

“Uh, thanks,” he replies oh so eloquently, reminding him that even after all these years he still hasn’t fully gotten reacquainted with Japan’s traditional ways. “’preciate it.”

“Right,” Dr. Midorima interrupts curtly, looking as though he wanted to be anywhere else but there. “Before I go so see my patient, I’m going to go over your X-Rays with you so you can have an idea of what needs to be treated. Kuroko, the lights please.”

Kagami nods, Kuroko turns off the lights, and they begin.

 “The accident resulted in you developing an extreme case of sciatica, which put simply, is a condition in which one or more of the discs in your spine press against your sciatic nerve, which runs from your back to your leg, causing the pain and occasional numbness you’re feeling now.” Dr. Midorima points to the X-Ray and Kagami can indeed see the indented spinal discs. Just looking at it makes him feel sick.

 “Rest assured, with the therapy, you should be healed in just a few weeks. Any questions?”

 _Will I be able to play again after this?_ Goes through his head, but Kagami doesn’t ask, already knowing the answer but not wanting to hear it from anybody else’s mouth.

So Kagami just shakes his head, wanting nothing more than to curl up and sleep and maybe cry for a few days. All of this has him feeling exhausted and unusually emotional. “Well if that’s all, then I’ll be off. I’ll come and check up on you every few sessions. Good luck.” With that, Dr. Midorima gathers his things and exits the room, turning on the lights on his way out, leaving Kagami alone with Kuroko Tetsuya.

Neither of them say anything for a few moments, Kuroko removing the X-Rays from the screen and Kagami taking a moment to admire him, before turning back to Kagami.

“I know this mustn’t be easy for you,” Kuroko suddenly says, pulling Kagami out of his musings about the shape of Kuroko’s legs. “But I’d like for us to both work hard and try our best so you can recover quickly.”

Kagami just nods again, but remembers that his psychiatrist told him one step to recovery is communicating verbally, so he clears his throat. “Yeah, thanks. I should’ve been here earlier but it’s been hard dealing with this. Accepting it. Everything that I’ve spent my life working for just… gone, y’know?”

Kuroko gives him an understanding look, and Kagami is suddenly overcome with the urge to want to see all the kinds of looks Kuroko can make with that blank face of his.

Embarrassed by his words and thoughts Kagami feels himself blush, rubbing a sore hand on his back of his neck. “Sorry, you probably didn’t want to hear all that. That’s what my psychiatrist is for, I guess.”

“No, it’s fine,” Kuroko assures him, moving from his spot to stand at the foot of Kagami’s bed. “Many people find that talking about what’s bothering them helps the healing process. Please feel free to tell me anything that is troubling you.”

Kagami blushes again and looks down at his lap. He wants to take back his wish for seeing Kuroko’s different expressions, because the more he sees, the more he feels like a schoolgirl with a crush. So he forces himself to snap out of it and instead focus on his healing process.

“Since it’s your first day, we won’t be doing anything to strenuous,” Kuroko tells him. “Just some small foot and leg exercises to get a gage on how much work needs to be done, and then we’ll move along from there, and hopefully we’ll work our way to the more difficult stuff as we continue.”

“Sounds good,” Kagami agrees, when in reality he is actually completely terrified because _what if this doesn’t work._

“All right,” Kuroko says, moving to remove the blanket off of Kagami before he pauses. “May I?”

“We don’t have very much of a choice do we?”

Kuroko chuckles, and the sound is oddly relaxing. “I suppose not. I just don’t want to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, so if I do, let me know right away.”

Kagami promises to do so, and they begin.

-

“You’re looking much better,” Kagami hears, tearing his eyes off of the stupidly ridiculous game show he’s watching on T.V.

The voice comes from his mentor and long-time friend Alexandra Garcia, and behind her walks his best friend/ not blood related brother, Himuro Tatsuya.

He brightens up at the sight of them. It had been awhile since he had gotten any company, his last visitor being Aomine, and well, they hadn’t left on the best terms. Not to mention that being stuck in a hospital was _boring._

“Hey,” he greets, giving them a small smile.

“Woah,” Alex breathes, turning to look at Tatsuya who had sat in the chair beside his bed while Alex sat at the foot of the bed, mindful of his legs. “Did you see that Tatsuya? Taiga actually _smiled._ ”

Kagami rolled his eyes, noticing the smirk on Tatsuya’s face.

“I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me,” he said, and Kagami playfully punched him in the arm. “Seriously though Taiga, you seem to be in a much better mood. What’s up?”

Kagami just shrugged, a little embarrassed. “The therapy’s helping a lot,” he finally admitted. “And I started talking to my psychiatrist- like _really_ talking to her, and getting stuff off of my chest has helped clear my head a little bit. I’m starting to feel more like myself again. It’s still really hard, and sometimes I end up panicking, but it’s getting easier.”

Tatsuya gives him a gentle smile. “I’m proud of you, Taiga,” he tells him softly.

“Me too!” Alex cries, launching herself onto Kagami and enveloping him in a hug. “I’m proud of my tiger too!” She leans in and Kagami is a second too slow in avoiding the kiss she plants on his lips.

He pushes her off of him and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, pointedly ignoring the sniggers coming from Tatsuya.

 _“I told you to stop fucking doing that!”_ He yells in English, and yeah, he thinks. He really is feeling better.

-

“Ouch,” Kagami hisses when he feels a sharp pain in his leg as Kuroko helps him stretch.

The two have been working together for Kagami’s therapy for just a couple weeks now, and everyday Kagami leaves feeling more and more amazed.

He had originally been wary of Kuroko’s capabilities, but the other man had more than proven himself. In the short time that they had been together, Kagami had already started gaining more and more feeling in his legs. Which, unfortunately, consequently meant he had been feeling more pain too.

Today they were doing some particularly difficult hamstring exercises and _wow_ did they hurt.

“Are you all right, Kagami-san?”

“Yeah,” Kagami pants, but he’s lying because right now his leg hurts like a motherfucker. “’m fine.”

Apparently Kuroko isn’t buying it, slowly putting Kagami’s leg back in its normal position. “Maybe we should take a break,” he suggests.

Kagami nods as he sits up, graciously accepting the cup of water Kuroko offers him. He finishes it, and tells Kuroko that he’s ready to continue, laying back down.

“Uh,” Kagami pipes up, disturbing the usual silence that lingers between them. “Do you mind if I ask a question? A kind of personal one? You don’t have to answer if you really don’t wanna.”

If Kuroko is surprised by the random outburst, he doesn’t show it. “No, I don’t mind. Go ahead.”

“What made you want to become a physical therapist? Don’t take this the wrong way – _ah, ouch_ \- but when I look at you, a physical therapist isn’t the thing I have in mind, if you know what I mean.”

Kuroko pauses for a second, and Kagami is worried that he might have hit a sore spot, when Kuroko lets out a small laugh and resumes the exercise.

“That’s one reason I suppose,” he tells Kagami, explaining himself further at the other’s raised eyebrow. “I’ve always enjoyed doing the opposite of what is expected of me… Such as being on the basketball team all the way until high school, for example.”

Kagami’s eyes go wide and he suddenly raises himself up on his elbows, startling Kuroko. “ _You_ play basketball?!”

“Played,” Kuroko corrects, easing Kagami back down into his previous position and switching his ministrations to the other leg. “I don’t play too much anymore, but yes, I did play.”

“Whoa,” Kagami breathes. He never would’ve guessed that Kuroko, who is tiny and fragile-looking with a practically non-existent presence, would play the sport he holds dearest to his heart. He finds himself amazed and more than a bit awestruck. “What position?”

Kuroko hums, taking a moment to think as he pushes Kagami’s knee to his chest once again. “My position didn’t really have a name per say,” he explains, and if he didn’t have Kagami’s attention before, he does now. “It’s a bit tedious to explain, and seeing as our session is almost over, I doubt I’ll have time to.”

Kagami pouts a bit, which apparently Kuroko sees because he chuckles again, making Kagami blush.

“Maybe another time then,” Kagami offers, looking straight into Kuroko’s eyes, feeling his heart beat just a bit faster when Kuroko looks right back.

“Yes,” Kuroko agrees, his voice soft. “I’d like that.”

-

That night, Kagami lies in his bed, wide awake, thinking about his therapist with impossibly blue eyes.

When a pleasant and slightly nauseating feeling fills his stomach, Kagami groans, willing the stupid butterflies away.

 _I’m so fucked_ , he thinks.

-

“Now that you and Aominecchi have made up,” Kise, another basketball friend of his says brightly from beside the window. “We can get down to business.”

Aomine and Kagami roll their eyes in unison.

“And what business would that be?” Aomine asks with a clear disinterest, flipping through his newest gravure magazine as he sits on the infamous bedside chair.

“The business that Kagamicchi is in looooove!”

Aomine stills and Kagami keeps his eyes glued firmly on his laptop, no longer truly seeing the stats of the players on the screen.

“Oi,” Aomine calls, poking Kagami in the arm with the magazine. “You never told me that you’re in love.”

Kagami’s eyebrow twitches and he supresses the urge to strangle the two other men in the room. “That’s because I’m _not._ I don’t know where he gets this shit from.”

Kise clambers onto Kagami’s bed, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, fluttering his eyes so prettily that Kagami is momentarily dazed. “I can tell just by looking into your eyes Kagamicchi.” The daze is gone. “Also, when we took you on your walk--“

“You didn’t take me on a walk, I’m not a fucking dog.”

“--I noticed the way you looked when you stopped and spoke to your physical therapist.”

Kagami lets out a little huff and avoids the prying eyes of both Kise and Aomine, wishing that the earth would just open up and swallow him whole. Okay, so _maybe_ he had gotten excited when he spotted Kuroko in the hallway. And _maybe_ he blushed a little while talking to him. It wasn’t his fault that he was so expressive. He just naturally wore his heart on his sleeve. But that didn’t mean that Kise could go around making assumptions. That were more or less true.

“I don’t know what drugs you’re on,” he finally mumbles, closing his laptop and shutting his eyes. “But I’m not in love with anybody. Especially not Kuroko. He’s just my physical therapist. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Kise lets out a light sigh, resting his head on Kagami’s shoulder and closing his eyes as well. “So you say, Kagamicchi. Don’t worry, we’ll bust you one day.”

-

“It seems that you’re recovering quite well,” Dr. Midorima tells him one day when he’s visiting Kagami to check on his progress, looking at the red-heads latest X-Rays. “Yes… everything is back in place, and the muscles in your back and legs are significantly stronger. You should be able to stop therapy and be released from the hospital soon.”

Kagami gives him a fake smile and a nod, ignoring the pain that sparks in his chest as he realizes that being healed means that he wouldn’t be able to see Kuroko anymore.

It hurt worse than anything he had ever felt, and that terrified him.

-

“You’re very quiet today, Kagami-san,” Kuroko says as they’re in one of the official therapy rooms, Kagami walking slowly beside a wall with his hands on two parallel beams a few feet apart as Kuroko stays close by should anything go wrong.

Kagami chuckles nervously, and wishes that he wasn’t so easy to read.

“Yeah, I just realized that I’m not going to be seeing you anymore, soon,” he tells him, continuing to take small steps. “Once I’m walking fine on my own, we’re finished.”

Out of the corner of his eye Kagami sees Kuroko blink a couple times, the only indication that he wasn’t expecting that to be his response.

“Oh,” is all he says for a few moments, and Kagami can tell that he’s thinking. “Most people I have worked with are more than happy to be rid of me, Kagami-san.”

Kagami stumbles a bit when he tries to take a larger step and Kuroko steadies him and suddenly their faces are extremely close together and Kagami can barely breathe. He finds himself leaning in when thoughts of what kissing Kuroko would be like before he regains his senses and is violently lurching back, almost stumbling again before he catches himself.

“S-Sorry!” Kagami practically shouts, his face on fire and the urge to run away strong and he’s sure he would have if his legs weren’t still healing. “Y-yeah I can see why people wouldn’t exactly want to stay, being hurt and all, but for me it’s like… I don’t mind it.” Kagami’s running his mouth again and he should _really_ learn to stop that, but now that he’s started and can’t stop. “I mean, yeah being hurt sucks and all but I find that I don’t mind it as much when I’m with you, and yeah…”

Kagami immediately wants to crawl in a whole and die because Kuroko looks so surprised, and it’s only now that Kagami realizes how strange it must be to hear that, especially from another guy.

He can feel Kuroko’s eyes on him as he walks back the way he came and half of him desperately wants him to remain silent while the other half begs Kuroko to say something back.

In the end, Kuroko doesn’t say anything in response to Kagami’s statement and only speaks to give Kagami instruction, but the calculating way he looks at Kagami makes him feel as though he’s being analyzed, and he hasn’t ever wanted to leave a session so badly.

They slowly walk back to Kagami’s room together (yes Kagami walked, he’s getting there, slowly but surely) and at the door Kuroko puts a hand around Kagami’s wrist when he tries to make his way inside.

Kagami looks at him in surprise and his heart is beating so loudly that he’s sure the other man can hear it.

“As much as I’m glad to see you getting better, Kagami-san,” he begins, voice softer than usual. “I will also be sad when our sessions end. Seeing Kagami-san makes me very happy.”

It takes a moment for Kuroko’s words to register in his mind, but when they do Kagami is blushing from his toes to his forehead, and _yup,_ this is in fact, a teenage girl crush.

“T-that’s cool, I guess,” is his reply because he’s never been so great with words, especially not as flustered as he is now. “U-uh, so I’ll see you next time then?” And really, he wants to hit himself in the face because he doubts anyone in the world is as awkward as he is.

Thankfully though, Kuroko gives him one of his rare smiles that makes Kagami want to photograph it so he could look at it forever and feel the happiness he feels now and _nooo that isn’t creepy at all, Taiga._

“Yes, I’ll see you next time,” Kuroko promises, and Kagami is able to breathe just a bit easier now.

-

“It was nice working with you Kagami-san,” Kuroko says to him almost a month later, the two standing in front of each other as Kagami signs out of the hospital, nurses familiar with the two looking on with tears in their eyes.

“Yeah, you too,” Kagami replies, smiling at the receptionist as he hands back the form. “Thank you for… well everything I guess. Don’t think I’d be here without you.” Kagami says this with a soft smile, jerking his head in the direction of the exit, inviting him to walk with him before they have to part ways.

They walk in silence, the heavy feeling in Kagami’s heart seeming to weigh him down with every step. As they get closer to the exit, he takes a large breath, and he hasn’t ever been much of a risk-taker when it came to his emotions, but he knows that if he leaves without saying or doing something he’ll surely regret it.

So just a few feet before the automatic doors, Kagami pulls Kuroko into a strangely empty hallway.

“Look,” he says, his voice shaking and his heart beating fast. “I was serious about what I said to you a few weeks ago. Leaving here is a big relief but it also really sucks because I’ve come to realize that I like you _a lot_ and you know that I was hesitant to do this therapy thing in the first place but I’m so glad I did because I got to meet you, and though I don’t understand you sometimes and I _still_ can’t see you as a doctor, you’ve come to mean a lot to me and I just really, really, _really_ like you. And I couldn’t leave here knowing that I didn’t say something.”

Kagami lets out a large breath and looks at Kuroko, waiting for some kind of reaction, his face falling a little as the other just continues to blink up at him.

Finally, after what seems like forever, Kuroko cracks the tiniest of smiles, and Kagami’s heart just about does a backflip.

“Well,” Kuroko says, his voice quiet but teasing. “I am very appreciative of Kagami-san’s feelings towards me, and I believe that he would be very happy to know that I feel the same way.”

“You do?” Kagami asks incredulously, his eyes wide and his voice low. “Please don’t tell me you’re joking.”

“Nonsense, I do not tell jokes. After all,” Kuroko reaches up and grabs Kagami’s shirt collar, pulling him down roughly so they’re eye-to-eye. “I don’t let just _anybody_ get away with not referring to me as doctor.”

A retort is on Kagami’s lips but he doesn’t get to say anything because suddenly Kuroko’s lips are on his and this is the only thing he’s wanted since he’s started working with the other man.

He closes his eyes and kisses him back, and in that moment, everything was perfect.

-

“You owe me ¥5000, Shin-chan,” Takao says happily from the other end of the hallway Kuroko and Kagami are in, smirking at the taller male.

Dr. Midorima grumpily pulls out a few ¥1000 notes, stuffing them into Takao’s waiting hands.

“That idiot couldn’t have confessed earlier?” he grumbles, putting his wallet back into his pocket.

“You can’t rush love, Shin-chan,” Takao says dreamily, watching as Kuroko and Kagami continue to kiss. “You can’t rush love. Now, let’s go make out in the abandoned storage closet before our breaks are up.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> come hmu on my [tumblr](http://whatisitkirschtein.tumblr.com/)


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